The AIDS fight offers a COVID vaccine patent pathway(The Hindu, GS-2, Governance, Health)

22 May The AIDS fight offers a COVID vaccine patent pathway(The Hindu, GS-2, Governance, Health)

Context:- The whole world is fighting against COVID-19. Researchers and some companies made drugs which are available in the public domain but the prices and availability remains the issue. If this world wants to sustain then affordability and availability of vaccines must be ensured by the pharma companies.

How we can ensure a secure world:-

• Voluntary giving up the licences to the mass producer of vaccine: Why?

• • • Voluntary giving up of licences provides
      •  licensee how to manufacture the medication
      • figuring out how to reverse engineer the product
  • Another option is opting for compulsory licences:-

• What is this?

• Since 2003, under Doha declaration this agreement was added with TRIPS, which provides protection to the intellectual property right.

• • • What is the issue in this
      • Issue is the legal hurdles, this compulsory licence phenomenon can be invoke by a country in the interest of public, but this will face the legal hurdle in the court and this C.L. will not come along with the tech transfer but in case of voluntary giving up, tech transfer _ expeditious process will takes place.

• What is the way forward

• • As was the case of AIDS many companies came up with giving up licences and having royalty on the sale of vaccine.
  • Cost of tenofovir came down from 500$ per person per year to 39$ per person per year
  • We need patent pooling as the case of USA but this must be joined by the EU in order to provide 

Swarn Singh

Plutus IAS Current Affair Team Member